-Our next guest
is a writer and actor who recently won an Emmy
for his portrayal or Roy Kent on the critically acclaimed
series "Ted Lasso." The second season finale
is available to stream this Friday on Apple TV+. Let's take a look. -Big man Roy Kent.
-No. -Come on, man.
Why won't you coach me? -'Cause you don't deserve it. -You're right.
I don't deserve it. -And the way you play
is dull and conformist. -It's true. I do play in quite
a dull and conformist way. -And you're ugly. You're an ugly, ugly boy. With bad hair.
-[ Scoffs ] -Say it.
[ Laughter ] -Please welcome to the show
Brett Goldstein. ♪♪ -Hey.
-Hey. -Welcome. See?
This is real Edinburgh -- first Edinburgh show energy.
-Yeah, hey. Hi. Yeah.
[ Applause ] Thank you. -I am thrilled you're here. -I'm delighted to be here.
Thank you for having me. -Such a fan of your work, and
to meet you in person is great. And, you know,
I hope everybody knows at this point that you're also
a writer on the show. -Yes.
-And it seemed like that -- it just must be so much fun
to be in the writers room, first, writing something
so funny, knowing that you then get to be
the person who performs it. -I mean, I did write that scene,
and the problem is, I knew as I was writing it, this is gonna cost Apple
a lot of money, because I can't do scenes
with Phil Dunster, who plays Jamie Tartt,
without losing my [bleep]. And as I was writing,
"You're an ugly, ugly boy," I thought,
"This is gonna take days." [ Laughter ] "This is gonna
take days to shoot." You may notice there were less
Roy-Jamie scenes this season, and that was purely
to save money. -Just to save money.
They can't have you guys in a two-shot together.
-Yeah. -They got a lot of
over-the-shoulders. -Yeah.
[ Both laugh ] -So, congratulations
on your Emmy. -Thank you very much.
-You cursed when you won... -Yeah.
-...in your acceptance speech. -Proud of it.
-As you should be. It's what the fans want.
-Yeah. -You know what I mean? It's what the people
who voted for you wanted. -They told me not to.
-They did. -Repeatedly.
And I kept thinking -- -So in the run up, they were
afraid this might happen? -A few people said,
"If you win, don't swear." And I was like,
"Why are you saying this? Like, now I'm gonna
do it twice." You know what I mean?
[ Laughter ] And the more you say it,
the more -- I mean, if they kept saying it, the speech would've
just been [bleep]. [ Laughter ]
Like... But, you know, it was --
Can I tell you this? People keep saying to me,
"What was winning an Emmy like?" What it was actually like -- It was very early in the show,
and we'd sat -- we were late. We were stuck in a queue.
I've never been to such a thing. And we're stuck in the queue
with lots of famous people. You're like, "Oh, famous people
have to queue, as well." And they're, like, queued,
and then suddenly we were told, "You don't have time
to do a red carpet. You've got to come
because the show started." And we sat down, and it was all,
like, "Oh, what's this?" and then suddenly, it started. Cedric the Entertainer
and a load of people started singing and dancing
towards us. And everyone stood up,
and all I was thinking was, "Oh [bleep]
Have I got a dance?" [ Laughter ]
Like, "What is this?" And then everyone said --
I was like, "Oh [bleep]" I couldn't see
where the cameras were. I was thinking,
"Please, don't make me a meme." Like, "What is this?"
[ Laughter ] I was just so embarrassed. Like, no one told me
there'd be dancing. And then I won an Emmy.
So, like, I was in no -- I was just spending
the whole time thinking... -And so even when you were
giving your acceptance speech, was part of you still worried that you got caught on camera
dancing badly? -Yeah, just, like,
looking horrified. [ Laughter ] -What is it like now --
especially as you -- I know you guys are working
now on season three. -Yeah.
-How protective are you of Roy Kent, being the person
who also plays Roy Kent? -The truth is,
I try, in the writers room, not to pitch a lot of Roy stuff, 'cause I love
all the characters equally. -[ Laughing ] Uh-huh. -But...
[ Laughter ] No, they're all my children. You know,
I don't have a favorite. But sometimes
I do find myself going, "Roy wouldn't [bleep] say that."
[ Laughter ] And now I have an Emmy.
Like, "Oh, yeah!" [ Laughter ]
-So, you bring it. -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-Obviously, you would. I think that
one of the things -- the journey, Roy's journey,
that we all enjoyed so much was this incredibly
gruff character. And, especially in season two, you see this really sweet side
of him, as well. You know, obviously you guys put
a lot of care into that arc. But that must be
a fun part of it, as well. You're not paying someone
who's one-dimensional. -No, I mean, all the characters, most of our time in the writers
room is spent discussing -- Like, I think the aim of
"Ted Lasso," all the characters have --
they start off, you hate them, and in the end,
we'll make you like them. Because everyone
has their reasons. You know what I mean?
[ Laughter ] Everyone you hate has a reason
that they're a dick. You know what I mean?
Like... Some people, it's very hard
to find that reason, and that's the real challenge.
-Yeah. I feel like you made it
particularly hard on your friend Phil. You've given him
the hardest journey. -Yeah.
-[ Laughs ] -I stand by it.
[ Laughter ] He'll be fine.
-So, we were talking backstage. Brendan Hunt,
who plays Coach Beard, he and I, and Jason, and Joe Kelly,
we were all in Amsterdam around the same time.
-Yeah. -We all fell in love
with soccer at the same time. I apologize that I'm not
calling it football, but, of course,
we have a football here, a football that you are not --
you're not falling in love with the same way that Brendan and I
fell in love with your football. -I feel like anyone --
You're all gonna hate me now. Hey, you call it football,
but you use your hands. -Yeah.
-So, exhibit A, what are you doing?
[ Laughter ] B, what the [bleep]
is going on? I've watched
the Super Bowl five times. It stops every three seconds.
[ Laughter ] Then there's an advert,
then something happens, then there's a chap and mics,
people talking. Like, just [bleep] play this.
What's going on? [ Laughter ]
And I'm like, "Americans must be genius
because I've watched it -- I still have no idea
what is happening." It looks like everyone
has worked out a lot, and good luck to them,
but, like, what is the sport? And then I went
to a baseball game, and I love baseball
because of the baseball films. -Yeah.
-What I realized is, in baseball films,
they cut out all the game shows and the adverts.
[ Laughter ] Like, there's an advert
every minute. People brought on the field
to fire a T-shirt at you. And then the worst thing
with all American sports is, at some point -- at any point,
you're in danger of being put on camera,
and you have to get off with the person next to you.
Like, it's not safe. [ Laughter ]
-Yeah, that's true. -In a time of #MeToo,
we shouldn't be having [bleep] kiss cams.
"Now I've got to..." -These are all
very good arguments. It's very hard to defend.
-I'm sorry. But, listen, I'm sure
something's going on. I just...
-Yeah. -...don't get it.
[ Laughter ] -So, I think everybody
would just feel very confident in assuming that the best work
you've done over the past two years is "Ted Lasso." But you would disabuse them
in this notion. You've done better work. -Better work.
-Yeah. -During lockdown,
we all do things -- There was a point
where I thought, "Maybe one day, I'll have
to delete all of this," because we all went mad
in lockdown, and maybe we don't want
the evidence of what we did in lockdown out there. But then I'm thinking,
"No, it's part of my art." During lockdown,
I made a 12-part reality TV show called "Lone Island"...
-Yeah. -...about a man
who goes on dating show, but because of COVID,
no one else goes on with him. And he ends up falling in love
with a plant and a football and a mop.
[ Laughter ] And as the series went on,
my hair got longer. I looked -- I look madder.
-Here you go. This is, I guess,
on a date now with... -With ball.
-Yeah. -With ball,
and I got so into it, and I wrote, like,
a proper season arc. 12-part season arc.
It's like "Ted Lasso." At the beginning, you're like,
"I don't know if I like plant," and in the end, you're like,
"Plant had their reasons." [ Laughter ] And I remember, like,
editing the finale -- the season finale,
and I was crying, and I was like,
"You have lost your damn mind." [ Laughter ] -Well, that's good.
I think a lot of people -- you know, "Ted Lasso,"
season two, is coming to a close. There's gonna obviously
be a gap until season three. I think anybody
could go find "Lone Island"... -Yeah.
-...and fill that gap. -And have me sectioned, I think.
[ Laughter ] -Hey, it's really a pleasure
to meet you. Congratulations on everything.
-Thank you for having me. -Thank you.
-I appreciate it. -The second season finale
of "Ted lasso" is available to stream this Friday
on Apple TV+.
Great interview! I want to know where to watch his quarantine project!
Whether it’s an interview, his excellent podcast, or on the show, Brett is just an amazingly entertaining, intelligent, and endearing human.
Brett’s take on American football is exactly what I would expect Roy’s to be.
Thanks for sharing this. I love him and the show and wish them all the success and accolades
This was an absolute delight!
How many people does Seth have in his audience? Seriously, I was clapping at home louder than his audience.